Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[ropy]

None of them the brightest tho

[thisGRAEME]

Concerned by how many rams bigi has sacrificed.

[dundeeunited83]

Unbelievable signing for yous in nads, you’ll absolutely love him! Bit like Diego Costa always plays on the edge

[capt_oats]

Training camp finished up with a 1-0 win against Östersunds FK in a bounce game. 35 mins each way and rolling subs but f**k it...a win's a win.

Seems like a bloody lovely time was had by all.

 

Edited January 13, 2018 by capt_oats

[WellView]

^^Adam Livingston got a run out.  I'd like to see him getting a run in the first team. As well that as yet another speculative punt on a left back. 

[capt_oats]

2 hours ago, WellView said:

^^Adam Livingston got a run out.  I'd like to see him getting a run in the first team. As well that as yet another speculative punt on a left back. 

Kind of agree with that. He got absolutely rinsed when he came on up at Caley on the last day of last season but he looks ideally suited to the wing back role and he's a talented player IMO. He's been around the squad a lot more since his cameos last season.

Edit to add: having just watched a wee bit of footage from the bounce game on the Östersunds FK YouTube it looks like Plummer was at LWB for a bit. Given he was signed quite quickly after Hammell picked up his injury at the start of the season I wouldn't be completely surprised if he was to feature a bit more. I seem to remember Robinson essentially saying that Hammell injury had sped up his decision to offer Plummer a deal.

Edited January 13, 2018 by capt_oats

[Gianfranco]

Haha Snails and gravy #content

[capt_oats]

Couple of mins footage in this interview with Potter.

Obviously there were rolling subs and I’m sure we switched around a lot but based on what’s shown here it’s a definite back 3.

Griffiths
Kipré Trialist Dunne
Tait Bigi Campbell Rose Plummer
Main Çiftçi

Edited January 14, 2018 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

That's the most Allan Campbell goal ever scored.

[WellView]

13 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Kind of agree with that. He got absolutely rinsed when he came on up at Caley on the last day of last season but he looks ideally suited to the wing back role and he's a talented player IMO. He's been around the squad a lot more since his cameos last season.

Edit to add: having just watched a wee bit of footage from the bounce game on the Östersunds FK YouTube it looks like Plummer was at LWB for a bit. Given he was signed quite quickly after Hammell picked up his injury at the start of the season I wouldn't be completely surprised if he was to feature a bit more. I seem to remember Robinson essentially saying that Hammell injury had sped up his decision to offer Plummer a deal.

The whole team failed to show up that day.  In Robinson we trust, however, I'd be disappointed if Plummer who has been a non-contributor so far was preferred for the rest of the season. My disappointment would be based upon our under-20 coaches being unable to prepare one of our better rated youths to usurp a nonentity. 

[WellView]

To add, I have no grievance with Plummer.  I'm in the camp that hopes for the best for every player that joins our club. Some so-called supporters are in the bitter & twisted camp that condemns players before they have played a singular game.  If Plummer ends up being a cracking signing I'll be delighted. 

 

Edited January 14, 2018 by WellView

[capt_oats]

Fwiw: it was more an observation rather than a criticism. He's an inexperienced player who was making (I think) his 2nd appearance. It was 0-0 when he was subbed on, Tansey's absolutely done him for the 1st and the other 2 came from his side of the park. I agree the whole team didn't turn up but regardless of that he still got a roasting.

That's not to say he shouldn't be involved, as I said, I think he's a talented player and I've watched him a lot for the u20s. I think long term he might be earmarked for the role, he seems to have the right attitude and he's progressing just fine under the guidance of Craigan and McManus but I'd have thought it's more likely to be the case that, as far as first choices go it'll either be Dunne, Tait (if Cadden's at RWB) or Frear (which isn't ideal as has been noted in this thread before) with Plummer and Livingstone as back-up options.

Right now, I wouldn't be surprised if Livingstone was to get some minutes but I don't see him being first pick ahead of those who have been playing the position for the foreseeable.

Edit to add: I've just seen a Twitter mention linking us with Tom Aldred from Bury. Absolutely no idea if it's legit but their forum has a thread that's saying he's left the club and he's signing with someone on loan next week: https://www.gigglane.com/index.php?/topic/30997-aldred-gone/

Additional edit: If Nixon's reporting it as @Armand 2 says I'd imagine it's legit. #welcomeTom #announceAldred

Edited January 14, 2018 by capt_oats

[Armand 2]

Alan Nixon on Twitter linking Motherwell with a move for Tom Aldred who has been told he can leave Bury.

[capt_oats]

Obligatory YouTube video for Aldred. Looks very much in the Hartley mould.

Seems he played with Dunne at Blackpool and Bowman at Carlisle.

 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Ryan Bowman has scored more league goals this season than Cristiano Ronaldo.

[capt_oats]

I thought I recognised Aldred's name. Turns out he was linked with Dundee in the last window before he moved to Bury.

Quote

Dundee in for Aldred?

Former Scotland youth defender Tom Aldred is being tracked by Dundee, according to various reports down south.
The 26-year-old is a free agent after coming to the end of his contract at League One side Blackpool.
Blackpool have offered Aldred a new contract but he is keeping his options open.
Aldred has had a host of clubs including Watford and spent a 2011 on loan at Inverness.
He has also attracted interest from Blackburn Rovers, Wigan and Bury.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/transfer-news-live-celtic-rangers-10688645

[Casagolda]

15 hours ago, capt_oats said:

I thought I recognised Aldred's name. Turns out he was linked with Dundee in the last window before he moved to Bury.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/transfer-news-live-celtic-rangers-10688645

Aye I mind seeing him linked with Dundee as well, sure I read something saying  he was Blackpool’s player of the year and had captained them to a play-off win at Wembley last season and thinking he sounded a decent enough signing on paper.  

Although going by the less than generous reports by the Bury fans above it sounds like he’s had an awful time of it this season.  Still, with over 200 games in the football league under his belt you’d hope he could bring some experience and leadership to the defence that’s badly lacking in Hartley’s absence.

Plus I’m not convinced Hartley’s going to be fit enough to come straight back anyway even after his suspension has ended, so getting someone in with some experience in the meantime was vital. Certainly wasn’t sold on Heneghan being the answer and I’m still scarred by the memory of Zak Jules from last January to be enthused by signing another youngster on loan. 

[capt_oats]

6 hours ago, Casagolda said:

Aye I mind seeing him linked with Dundee as well, sure I read something saying  he was Blackpool’s player of the year and had captained them to a play-off win at Wembley last season and thinking he sounded a decent enough signing on paper.  

Although going by the less than generous reports by the Bury fans above it sounds like he’s had an awful time of it this season.  Still, with over 200 games in the football league under his belt you’d hope he could bring some experience and leadership to the defence that’s badly lacking in Hartley’s absence.

Plus I’m not convinced Hartley’s going to be fit enough to come straight back anyway even after his suspension has ended, so getting someone in with some experience in the meantime was vital. Certainly wasn’t sold on Heneghan being the answer and I’m still scarred by the memory of Zak Jules from last January to be enthused by signing another youngster on loan. 

Aye, I found this post on a Bury forum that possibly goes some way to explaining Bury's issues this season. To save you a click, a boy has worked out they've had 24 different centre back/back 3 permutations this season. That seems quite a lot.

Also...Lee Clark.

In fact that's Bury sacked their 2nd manager this season. Lucketti left the club at the weekend.

It seems that not only was Aldred Blackpool's player of the year last season but he was player of the year when he was at Accrington Stanley prior to that.

I'll be honest, I've been advocating we get another experienced centre half in for years now. For whatever reason we seem to have been preferring to have one experienced player partnering a younger player. It was McManus +1 for ages and as it stands it's presently Hartley +1, unless we take McHugh out of midfield. The upshot is that you find yourself with Keiran Kennedy and Louis Laing as your central pairing or worst case losing 5-1 at home to Dundee because...Zak Jules. 

If the Aldred signing happens and it means that we're in a position to field two experienced centre halves who organise, win headers, make tackles and just generally batter folk then I'm all for that.

Edited January 15, 2018 by capt_oats

[ropy]

Zac Jules looked the part, if only he could play football

[RiG]

We had Aldred on loan for a few weeks several seasons back. Looked pretty ropy back then though he was quite young. He had his loan spell cut short after he threw a strop because he was asked to play in a reserve / Highland Cup game against Brora saying he was better than this and was being treated disgracefully. Butcher told him to f**k off and he was sent back down the road.